Yolo the story so far

[Mazda Mender]

Looks like it's all you need but you won't know how bad they are inside untill you open her up, but a good repairer will fab up the inners.
M-m

[Yolo]

I think I will just go with the temp fix for now. That will give me time to get the MOT sorted and find someone to do it properly.

Thx again for taking the call and the helpful advice.

[Yolo]

Well I just got the car back from having a bit of welding done. The guy said it looked ok inside so that has been cleaned and treated. Outside welded up and sealed so it is sorted for MOT tomorrow.

Once that is over I will tidy up the weld a wee bit better as it's still a bit to visible for my liking.

In the meantime I had a play with the door card which has been sitting for a month.. Doesn't look too bad for an amateur, just have to fit the covers my good lady stitched up.

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[Yolo]

Some updates..... Door cards now sorted and back on. Pretty happy with them

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And this arrived today.... I might paint it but what colour????

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It means I have a Mk 2 strut brace up for grabs if someone is looking one...

[Mazda Mender]

I am needing one buddy
M-m

[Yolo]

Hi folks I have started to get the car ready for a fresh paint job so spent a couple of hours taking the soft top off. I have also stripped out the boot and removed the spoiler. It is all nice and clean and dry which is great for a 23 year old car.

All I'd good with that but I am trying to remove the black rail that goes round above the rain rail but am not sure how it comes off see the pic below....

I have removed about 10 bolts but noting seems to be shifting any ideas???

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[Yolo]

Been a while since I updated this so here goes. In order to keep the costs down I have started to strip the car down myself. I have quite a few pic of progress so bear with me and I will get them sorted.

What I can say is that the belt line trim above did come off eventually, no big secret it just seems to be held on with the same goo that holds the moisture barrier behind the door cards. Just a little pressure and it starts to give. You just need to go slow to make sure you fonts break it.

More pics and progress to follow.

[Yolo]

A bit more fettling today, nothing big as I spent most of the day clearing space in the garage so I can work. Anyway front and rear towing eyes given a good sanding and treated for rust before I give them a coat of paint.
Any recommendations on paint? Do I need a spray pant or would a brush and some metal finish paint be sufficient?

chassis rail and crossmember look good for its age....

[Yolo]

A bit more playing tonight but not much good news. I have decided that both wings need to go as the edges of what I thought was the the good wing just aren't stable enough. I also did a bit of poking around where the sill was patched last year and things are not good. That is gong to need cutting out and sorting properly.....

Rust

On the plus side the rain rain was washed and dried and will be given a bit of rubber treatment tomorrow. The metal brackets that hold the rain rail in place were given a a quick sand and coat of paint and the tie down eyes, front and back, as well as the front bumper brackets were all given a couple of coats of primer just to seal them.

[Yolo]

ok it has been an interesting couple of days, first I got this to help tidy up the garage late christmas present to myself.
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Then I hit this in my daily something is not right but can't see anything obvious.
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But the best bit my good lady got me theses

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Stickers included

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[Yolo]

now lots of questions......

As I am getting the car painted and any rust spots sorted out I am wondering how far to go. I plan to do the underside to tidy it up and seal it.

The arches are also getting done so the new Meisters will look great but what about wishbones?

Do I take them off and get them blasted and painted or can they be done in situ?

If I get them done off the car do the bushes come out? If that is the case I'm not doing it...... once was enough lol.

if I do them on the car what do i use? I have read great things about POR15.

What is your opinion????

[Mazda Mender]

They can be done on her, but it is up to you, if you take them off you will need to get her re-aligned but you will need to do it anyway after fitting the Meisters, i have always used smoothrite black and then tetraseal over the lot for full protection when undersealing the underneath.
Owners have their own choices with this, ,personally mine is get rid of tin worm and use what i can so it does not come back.
M-m

[Yolo]

Hi Mm I spoke to the guys that are doing the painting and the tin worm is going to get sorted with the painting, it doesn't look too bad but it will need to be opened up to be sure. I will also be supplying two wings as I wasn't happy with mine once I had a close look at them last night.

As for the wishbones I am glad they can be done on the car as I really didn't want to take them off again.... Smoothrite and tetraseal for the wishbones sounds good.

I am going to and get it up in the air again this weekend and start cleaning underneath, despite it being steam cleaned before being locked up there is still some dirt under there, then it can be treated and sealed. The Dintrol kit has been sitting on the shelf for long enough!!! I am looking forward to seeing it clean and protected underneath as it is pretty tidy I want to keep it that way.

[Yolo]

OK pulled the front suspension off tonight and am going to get cleaning and treating the arches while I have loads of room. I have to say things went reasonably quickly considering my amateur status.

while everything was off the front I had a look around and found OIL..... and a coolant leak... here are some pics. what do you think?

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[Yolo]

more fettling in the garage this weekend, lots of time and yet I didn't seem to get much done.... any way some pics.

New radiator rebuilt, what is with one of the fan casings being plastic and the other metal... course I found some rusty spots so had to sand and give it a quick spray...

quick spray

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one half done and cleaned as I went

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Then I got on with tidying up the wish bones and some brackets... I will hopefully get these put back on tomorrow when they are dry. This should get them out of the road.

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Front ARB was also taken off as the ends were too pitted and the plastic coating was just hiding rust elsewhere so it has been stripped back and painted. Need another couple of coats to protect it before going back on.

New front drop links ordered as the current ones are looking a bit worse for wear.

Question for you regulars what do you treat the wheel arches with? I have Dinitrol for the underside is it just the same for under the arches as the stuff that is there is pretty thick except where I have rubbed it back where it was broken.